Hearing God, Things that Help

I'm contemplating how this matter of hearing God works. There are plenty of clues in the Bible. The Bible is amongst other things a record of people who correctly heard the Word of the Lord. If God spoke to people by His Spirit, at times without using the Scriptures, and He is the same today, then He can still speak to people things not strictly written in the Scriptures. This is not to say that God would say anything which contradicts His revealed will in the New Testament, or the revelation of His character found throughout the whole Bible. But if God is a living, speaking God, then He can give us extra information that is not strictly derived from an excellent knowledge of the Scriptures ALONE. The Scriptures talk about gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit, which are supernatural in nature and we believe still occur amongst Christians today when the conditions are right and God is pleased to give them.

I would have to say that meditation on the words of the Scriptures as well as the study of the Scriptures is an vital foundation for anyone who seeks nowadays to reliably hear and know the voice of God. It is all too easy to start imagining that you know God's voice when you don't. The diversity of religious opinion on the internet is proof enough of that. I know I have been mistaken about the voice of God in the past, and it could happen again. It may be that the GENUINE KNOWLEDGE of the Voice of God in our day is very rare and precious even amongst Christians. Like gold found in the bed of a river with a prospector's pan, a lot of washing, sifting, shaking and weighing of things will be required before we arrive at the genuine article. Like anything worthwhile in life, the knowledge of God and His voice normally requires effort to attain to it, even though there is a sense in which it had to be given by God first in order for it to be received by us.

God is able to speak when He wishes to. He has not bound Himself to a set of rules in this respect. But if we are seeking to hear God's voice, there are some principles which are important for us to honor if we want the genuine article.

1. Be Obedient to what you already know God wants.

2. Get to know the Character of God as revealed in the Bible

3. Seek to please God and others before you please yourself

4. Believe that God wants to communicate with you

5. Be Baptised in the Holy Spirit, and seek the Spirit's fullness thereafter

6. Praise and Worship God

7. Read the Scriptures regularly

8. Speak the Word of God with your mouth

9. Meditate on the Word of God until you feel its impact

10. Get to a place of peace and rest

11. Do not act in haste or under pressure.

12. Wait for God to speak

13. Meditate on the last things God spoke to you until now

I want to think a little about this last principle. I see that God does not “blurt everything out at once” in his dealings with us. Rather, He builds everything “line upon line”. What He said last time was preparation for what He is saying now. And what He says now is preparation for what He will say next.

I hope to continue this line of thought at a later time.